Bolster
surname · Latin script
Meaning: A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape
(measured from records)Officially recorded in 5 countries · latest register: Census Bureau, 2020
/boʊlstɚ/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Bolster is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Congo - Kinshasa than in any other country.
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 119K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 167K
- CDCongo - Kinshasa≈1 in 48K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Congo - Kinshasa (inferred from the name graph)
- Record sources
- 267 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 48K (inferred from the name graph)
≈2,100 people, est.
corpus datasets behind its best-documented spelling
strongest: highest-authority source
Congo - Kinshasa, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin
(measured from records)A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
Cited for this meaning 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world
(measured from records)Bolster counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CD Congo - Kinshasa | ≈2,100 est. | ≈1 in 48K | — | Bolster | 1 |
| US United States | 1,986 | 1 in 167K | 2K | Bolster | 267 |
| GB United Kingdom | ≈550 est. | ≈1 in 119K | — | Bolster | 88 |
| CA Canada | ≈270 est. | ≈1 in 141K | — | Bolster | 64 |
| NL Netherlands | 245 | 1 in 71K | 245 | Bolster | 25 |
| AU Australia | ≈220 est. | ≈1 in 117K | — | Bolster | 56 |
| GT Guatemala | ≈160 est. | ≈1 in 110K | — | Bolster | 1 |
| IE Ireland | ≈110 est. | ≈1 in 49K | — | Bolster | 30 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; CBG Familienamenbank — Dutch surname bearer counts (GBA/BRP 2007). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses
(measured from records)Bolster is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In Irish, An English name well known in Co. Cork since early eighteenth century. Like Bowler it denotes a maker of bowls
as a nameThe Surnames of Ireland
In enm, A soft stuffed bag to lie or lean on; a cushion or pillow.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In Dutch, a bur, a spiny cupule, often of a chestnut
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In Swedish, a bolster (a large cushion or pillow)
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In ang, pillow, cushion
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name
(measured from records)- Henry B Bolsterb. 1792USAmerican businessman
- Paul Bolsterb. 1944USAmerican politician
- Michael Bolsterb. 1967IEIrish chef
- Stephanie Bolsterb. 1969CACanadian poet
- Luke Bolsterb. 1998USbasketball player
- Sally BolsterUSConnecticut State Representative
- Diogo BolsterUSuniversity researcher
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them
(machine-generated)Evidence
(measured from records)13 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 5 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 2K | #14,902 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 1.8K | #14,976 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 1.8K | #15,549 |
| NL Netherlands | CBG Familienamenbank — Dutch surname bearer counts (GBA/BRP 2007) | 2007 | 245 | #8,480 |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 4
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Bolster mean, and where does it come from?
- A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- What are other forms of the name Bolster?
- In the etymology graph, Polster is a form of the same name in other languages.
- How do you pronounce Bolster?
- A machine transcription gives /boʊlstɚ/ (IPA) for English.
- In which country does Bolster have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 2.1 thousand people named Bolster in Congo - Kinshasa, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled bolster.
- How common is the name Bolster?
- In the United States, the national register counted 1,986 people named Bolster in 2010, about 1 in 167 thousand residents.
What do you want to know about Bolster?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/bolsterThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Bolster”. Data snapshot 2026-10-13.